Shoppers take advantage of sales in the centre of Derby. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA

Grim winter weather and the deepest recession in decades could not keep the sales shoppers at home this Christmas as retailers reported a bumper weekend on high streets, in shopping centres and online.

Encouraged by an imminent VAT rise, the fact that Boxing Day fell on a Saturday and promises of record-breaking bargains, shoppers were already lining up in the small hours of Saturday and the rush continued on Sunday as big chains such as Marks & Spencer waited to kick off their sales.

Online stores reported another Christmas surge but yesterday it seemed many bargain hunters still preferred to hit the high street. Queues quickly formed outside shopping centres, parched shoppers packed out high street coffee bars and cars snaked out of overflowing car parks up and down the country.

In Manchester, the city centre was bustling despite driving rain. A woman struggling through the downpour with a large M&S bag and several other bulging carrier bags said: "It is a nightmare out there."

Many stores exploited the huge demand for discounts from cash-strapped consumers by opening their doors at 6am on Boxing Day, when they were not restricted by Sunday trading laws. In Milton Keynes shoppers started lining up at 3am on Saturday and at the Braehead shopping centre in Glasgow car parks were also filling up in the small hours. The sales rush continued yesterday, although big stores could not open for as many hours.

Gordon McKinnon, director of operations at Manchester's Trafford Centre, said 150,000 people visited on Boxing Day and yesterday 20,000 people arrived before the noon opening time. But he was angry that opening was restricted to just six hours. "It is going to be much worse in 2010 when Boxing Day falls on a Sunday," he added. "The frenzy of [Saturday] will be concentrated into just six hours."

Laurence James, store manager at Kendals department store in Manchester, said Boxing Day had been hugely successful, with menswear in particular selling well, and that they had traded for 11 hours. "We were up 20% on Boxing Day last year," he said. "We are expecting today to be down on last year because it is a Sunday. I expect Monday is definitely going to be the busiest shopping day of the year."

More than 1,000 shoppers queued up at at thecentre:mk in Milton Keynes yesterday morning for the start of the John Lewis and Marks & Spencer sales with around 15,000 people flooding into the centre before tills opened at 11am.

The centre director, Robert Goodman, said many retailers were reporting double-digit sales growth. But he added a note of caution about darker winter weeks to come. "There is no doubt in my mind that the New Year sales will continue to attract shoppers on the lookout for bargains, but we are expecting a slower January and February across the retail sector as a whole after the sales end," he said.

Shopping centres reported a big boost from shoppers who wanted to beat the imminent rise in VAT, which is going back up to 17.5% on 1 January from the government's emergency rate of 15% over the last year.

Trevor Pereira, commercial director of the Capital Shopping Centres chain, which includes the Lakeside complex in suburban London and the Metrocentre near Gateshead, said: "Retailers are experiencing high demand for laptops, TVs, mobile phones and homewares. Winter coats, cocktail dresses, cashmere cardigans and jumpers and winter boots are also proving popular sales items."

But some shoppers were disappointed at their rewards for braving the bedlam. "There have not been massive discounts," said Bill Hamilton, from Worsley, Greater Manchester. "A lot of stuff in the sales is not that reduced or seems to be the old tat they have rolled out again for the sales. I had been expecting more choice. I have just bought a pair of jeans because they were 40% off."

Those opting for online shopping seemed happy to abandon family celebrations for a spot of retail on Christmas Day, making the most of an even earlier start to the sales on the internet. Department store chain John Lewis launched its online clearance on Christmas Eve and reported a record first three days with sales up 23% on a year earlier. It received an order every 10 seconds on Christmas Day, when the most popular purchases included guest beds and folding treadmills to work off the Christmas pudding. Boxing Day saw a record number of visits to its site.

The success added to a record Christmas for the John Lewis partnership's Waitrose supermarkets as festive cooks splashed out on gourmet wares, lifting sales a fifth up on a year ago to £134.6m in the week to Boxing Day. Sales of three-bird roast (turkey, goose and duck) leapt 87%.

Large, out-of-town supermarkets also enjoyed a big jump on last year's shopper numbers, with Tesco reporting a 50% rise to 1.4 million Boxing Day customers, who bought TVs at a rate of 35 a minute as well as toys, DVDs and other non-food items. Staple fruit and vegetables were in demand too ‑ Tesco sold 625 bananas a minute.

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